‘Mistook a Woman He Raped For His Wife!’ Jim Acosta CNN Panel Torches Media Over ‘Uneven’ Trump Gaffes Versus Biden Coverage

CNN anchor Jim Acosta led a panel of analysts who torched “uneven” gaffe coverage of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump — whom Paul Begala noted “mistook a woman he raped for his wife!”

For months, Trump has been mixing up Biden and former President Barack Obama, misidentifying countries, not knowing what town he’s in, misidentifying world leaders, and insisting ex-Amb. Nikki Haley was in charge of security on Jan. 6. That’s to say nothing of the stream of bizarre asides on a variety of topics like marbles and whales.

On Tuesday’s edition of CNN Newsroom, Acosta and his panel of CNN analysts Begala and Joe Walsh and former VP Kamala Harris staffer Ashley Etienne brought up Trump’s most recent bout of gaffes and slurring, and went off on the “uneven” coverage:

JIM ACOSTA: Paul. It’s a continuation of what you hear on the right that the, Biden is out of it. He’s, you know, he’s, slipping in all of this stuff and that the fascists and the communists at the White House are in charge.

PAUL BEGALA: Right. Well, we remember when Joe Biden confused Barack Obama with with Donald Trump. Oh, wait. No, that was Trump.

Well, remember when Joe Biden was under oath and he mistook a woman he raped for his wife? Oh, no, that was Donald Trump. In other words I think the coverage of this has has frankly not been very accurate. Right. Biden’s gaffes have always been built in, and he’s always had his verbal slips, as we all do. I’ve known him 35 years. I haven’t seen it really get worse. Yeah, Trump is getting worse! He’s melting down!

JIM ACOSTA: Paul, I’m so glad you said that because let’s watch this.

DONALD TRUMP: And Putin, you know, has so little respect for Obama that he’s starting to throw around the nuclear word. You heard that nuclear.

The Biden border will. Well, you know this, right? The Biden border bill.

Did you just see Maduro? Venez-where? It’s unbelievable.

We are a nation that just recently heard that Saudi Arabia and Russia will re-be-do ahhh. Will be reducing.

JIM ACOSTA: Paul. To your point. To your point. It is not covered evenly. It’s not covered evenly.

Right? If Biden does not mean that it’s not a crime, did any of that it’d be front page New York Times four inch wood! Okay? But Trump does it and he gets a pass. And I just think we ought to be fair.

JIM ACOSTA: Joe.

JOE WALSH: Right. But the you’re right it’s not fair. But it is the reality. The polling shows that most Americans, most Democrats think Joe Biden is too old.

Joe Biden is the old that most Americans can see. Trump is such. He’s so nuts. He’s so bad. He’s such a psychopath. He’s so anti-American. We overlook the fact that he’s old, but Biden just looks old.

But it’s an opportunity, I think, Jim, for the president, he and he alone can show he’s up to the job.

JIM ACOSTA: And Ashley, I mean, you worked over the white House. This must have been a constant source of frustration over there.

ASHLEY ETIENNE: The narrative that Joe Biden’s old.

JIM ACOSTA: That that isn’t really covered evenly, that Trump says all this stuff at these rallies and.

ASHLEY ETIENNE: Absolutely! The campaign now is meeting with The New York Times and other outlets to talk about this issue, how the the coverage is imbalance.

But what I find very interesting about Donald Trump is when his back is against the wall, when he feels threatened, that’s when his rhetoric becomes even more intense, even more bigoted, even more extreme. And that’s what we’re seeing right now. So I think you’re absolutely right.

Most of those gaffes were recent, but Begala’s reference was to the moment in a 2022 deposition when Trump identified a photo of E. Jean Carroll — whom a jury says Trump sexually abused and defamed — as his then-wife Marla Maples:

Watch above via CNN’s CNN Newsroom.